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Topic: Truck series at Delaware??? Where does it go from here?> (Read 28867 times)

I bought a roller this year with the intentions of getting it ready for 2014 with sponsorships and so forth. Anyways, what are they gonna do with this series and who plans on coming to the plate so we don't loose this series?

Agreed, "get er done" its a great starter division to get them Delaware junior racers moving towards. Real racing at its best. A reasonable budget to. Get the young blood setting their goals as a Delaware truck racer.

I rebuilt an old Fothergill chassis and raced 2 nights this year to shake it down for the 2014 season, I need to buy 8" rims and tires but I am going to wait until the speedway announces the drivers meetings to explain what the plan is for 2014, I am hoping they try to keep the trucks going for one more season, there has to be a lot of trucks sitting around, when we got out of the series in 2007 the was 20- 25 truck every night, we need to find away to get these trucks back. I realize that the speedway has to do something, because we can just keep running 7 or 8 trucks, it's not a good show! Anyone who has any of these trucks needs to either get them ready for 2014 or list them for sale so someone else can. That just my opinion, I am not going to spend anything until we have a meeting to see what will happen, I love the truck series and I am staying very optimistic that it is possible to get this series back to what it once was.

I should be back at Delaware racing next summer. (#17 Truck). I will probably be running the truck some races, if not all if the budget is too small. I have not made any real planes yet. The series was great with a full field of trucks, just need to get them out of the barns and back on the track. The track seam committed to keep the series alive, What is everyone opinion on the trucks and muscle cars running together? I did not get a chance to see a race with both.

The change to 8" rubber I believe was to have tires last longer. Unsure how well they did this year, I haven't asked the guys. That was to reduce costs if I am remembering right, and you are allowed to run out your old stock. I could be wrong on that, have to check that.. or someone will clarify (I'm not big in the truck division info). Trucks have the same issue as Enduro did, cost to keep competitive. So many teams got angry on costs, and one person made a good point on the weekend. Some owners had multi-truck teams, and if they went.. so did ALL their rides. Delaware is fighting an uphill battle, to get racers back.

They are coming out from their bomb shelters slowly, in other classes. LM is ridiculous price as well anymore. So costs are now being reigned in. Problem is, competitors believe the same crap may happen again, with rising costs. Well, Delly... they just don't believe you. You need to prove to them you will not monkey with their kids' college funds. I do however believe the track is attempting to keep costs in-line for the next few years.

Cutting payouts in my opinion really hurt LM than anything. Hopefully these get rectified next year. Hopefully Tech can figure out a rule set, and tire options to bring more outside guys next year. The biggest insurgence of new competitors, has been Bone Stock. Run these guys a little more Friday nights next yer. If they see the higher classes, it's possible they will move up. No one just decides to go and build a SS/Truck if they've never seen one.

I've also said it before, that we need new feeder classes. V8 stocks, are going to be great. Already seen a few guys put rides together, and dig out some old ones. Another good move would be Mini Stock. There are so many of these throughout SW Ontario, and we currently are the only track without ( last time I checked). Bone Stock guys would move up, and get bums in seats. It also give parents a place to move their kids into, if they want to teach setup, camber, weight jacking, so on. Also, wrecking a 1500-5000 dollar Mini Stock is easier to take than a Truck or SS.

One last note, if the track does decide to make any new adjustments for next years' lineup. Announce it early. People need time to find rides, and money to put them together.

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Not an expert, just tried it, refused to listen to conventional thinking, broke all the parts trying

I agree dougy v8 stocksare a good division to sttart in. I still bealiave that delly needs a mini stock class. The guys that wanna move up from bone stocks can and dont hav to get a new car or build a v-8 stock back to cost. And you are right delly is ONLY track in ontario with out a mini stock class which sucks for guys like you and me who have been doing this for to long who want to throw a setup at it and its alot easier to throw jrl drivers in a 2000 car and see if theu like it rather then a ss or truck.as for trucks im not sure what there going todo.i say if less then 5 trucks registered whats te point run them as a speacial division once a mnth and you would probly see 14-18 trucks come outta wood work for that maybe look at going to sunset,flamboro,sauble (not barrie that sucked) and run at some of there big ivitationals. I think mkst trucks are 9" fords now which isnt to hard to get gears for.iter that or give truck guys insentave to move up to ss with track helping to absorbe cost. Or mor like the track buys ur truck if u move up to ss

I think moving to a reduced schedule could be the best or worst thing to do with the trucks. If you shortened down to 5 or 6 races as some kind of mini series, maybe all the part-time guys show up all at once and you are looking at a 15 truck count that starts generating outside interest again, and you slowly build back up from there.

On the flip side, if you did that, maybe the guys who have a truck right now or are looking to get into it but want to race more often decide its time for them to hit the eject button.

i really like the trucks...sure would like to kno how many trucks there really are race ready or almost race ready...track should maybe try to have a meeting and see what they could do to bring them out...maybe they could figure out a set number of nights on friday and saturday specials and if the had enough picked a rep and see if they could do a couple of specials at flamboro, varney, sunset, ohsweken...but they really need to get the costs back to a street stock ..

While budget is our number one issue (and why we're thinking of putting together a mini-stock to race elsewhere since Delaware doesn't have that division), the other big reason is that we can't do Fridays. We tried, and it proved futile. Too many in the team having to work, or work late, or bla bla, including me, and rushing home, hooking up the trailer, and rushing to the track, I basically get my helmet on in time for the first heat, no practice, no warm-up, no nothing. Which is even worse now that the racing starts at 7:30.

Nothing can be done about that though, the survey Delaware takes every year make it clear that the vast majority of us want to race Fridays. So I'm not whining about it, just pointing out why it's not feasible.

Truck's still for sale. I just took it off kijiji and CRO after a year of almost no emails, other than one guy who wanted to RENT it per race. I know Shaun's Ford is still sitting ready to go turnkey as well.

And as for costs... It's hard for existing teams to go "back" to cheaper rules when we've already spent the money. It's a hard line to balance on, and I sympathize with the track. Having cheaters get repeatedly caught at the front of the field doesn't help either--we either have to spend like crazy to try and keep up, or give up at the lack of justice. (Although I know they've recently gone zero tolerance on it--which is good, if they catch it in the first place!)

Sure, we could say "well go back to cast iron manifolds", but really, headers are about the same price these days, and I already have the headers! Same with going down to 2" exhaust or whatever it was. I already have the whole system, so there's a couple more hundred. And the tires, of course. The rules they changed didn't really keep cost down, they just changed parts to make the trucks slower. Keep the headers, keep the exhaust, it costs the same regardless!

I actually think Delaware has done just about all they can to keep costs down with these trucks. I maintain that switching to manual transmissions would be a mistake, I personally found it way easier/cheaper to find a working Powerglide or TH350 than to find a 3 or 4 spd AND do the conversion to a stick.

The only thing really left would be a drastic engine rule change, mild cams, stock smogger heads, or even running 305s. I'm not sure anyone wants to do that though.

Personally, if you want to reduce costs, REDUCE THE ENTRY FEES. My buddy racing up in Barrie pays less to enter A LATE MODEL (driver+car+team members) for the night than we do enter a Truck. That is ridiculous. I'd rather take a slightly reduced payout if it means I can actually afford to GET into the track for the night.

I think the most pleasent thing to all this is that the rules are frozen now. So it has given me a year to build a motor and pay for it. It has given me a year to find sponsors and also a year to find some odds and ends. I have a hard time with switching to 8" rubber. Where am i suppose to find 1500 to upgrade. I had been buying 7" stuff up to the point of not being able to race it for 2014. geez I even have a good sponsorship backing but how do i explain economically and financially to a sponsor i need more money...they will tell me to beat it.

what was wrong with cast intakes and 4 barrel carbs on these trucks. Why did they get soo carried away?

I really wanna see the truck series survive. It would be awesome to see the trucks split time between Friday's and Sat's. maybe after we understand that trucks are gonna show up more on a certain day more we can set a 2015 schedule accordingly.

Four barrels add complications. One, finding the intakes anymore, two, mating them to Vortec heads.... You see where I'm going. A can of worms has been opened, and now Tech has to find a balance. The crate with a two-barrel, is even and fair. As for builts, they have few, but some advantages.... but the added weight to a top-heavy vehicle... again semantics. Trucks had one guy show up occassionally, who was out of the rules, ends up in victory lane, only to go home with no trophy or cash. Kinda stupid in my eyes, but he had fun.

Ultimately, the balance will be found and the class will live again. Give it time, it will come back.

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Not an expert, just tried it, refused to listen to conventional thinking, broke all the parts trying